Monday, 18 February 2013

Ferrari 212 Europa 2+2 Cabriolet

The 212 emerged during a transitional period for Ferrari. Enzo's notorious distaste for building road cars was ebbing away, seeing them less as a necessary evil to fund racing concerns and more as an integral part of the growing business. However, at this point Ferrari still weren't offering standard bodies; cars were sold as chassis with running gear attached, clothed by one of a number of approved coachbuilders. The 212 we see here is a 1952 example bodied by Vignale. The number of different body designs, coupled with the variations in mechanical spec and, of course, the nature of having been hand-built, means that each 212 is unique.
Vignale built 28 Ferrari 212s in total, just four of which were cabriolets. The combination of four-seater motoring in the open air and that throaty triple Weber-fed Colombo V12 must have been otherworldly in period, and is still pretty breathtaking today.Click here to read the story of this 212's confused identity (and perhaps buy it, if you've got $1,650,000 to spare).